I live in a formerly very sleepy little community in what has now become the famous "Bakken Oilfield". Being a history buff, I've read a great deal about the booms of old, from the copper mines of MT to the various gold and silver mining towns. All of them became crazy places to live. There are stories of simple grocery items being nearly worth their weight in gold and property being almost impossible to purchase in all of these places. Of course there are the tales of lawlessness that came to exist in many of these areas as well.
Knowing all of this, I would still have never guessed that a modern boom would bring about so many of the exact same situations. Shootings, robberies, rapes, and the like are now not something we just read about happening in other places. The price of everything has gone up, not because the store is paying more, but because they're able to charge more. And property!! I've been looking at a lot in a nearby town were I've been considering taking a job. A couple of years ago, lots in this town were being given away. A beautiful lot that was in great shape might bring $500. Well this lot that I had in mind was just under an acre and would have needed a good bit of dirt work to make it suitable. Finally got a price on it yesterday... $35,000!!!!! Pasture land still goes for under $200 an acre, but an acre of poor ground on the edge of a tiny town is now $35,000!! I hope they can get it, but no way in he11 would that be a wise investment. In ten years it will likely be worth $500 again. Interesting to watch the boom take place, it seems humankind is on a never ending loop. When the inevitable bust occurs, I have to wonder how many will be left holding the cards.
First, Human Nature never, ever, changes. When money is abundant, the sharks arrive.
My father was a wildcatter in the oil fields of s.w. Arkansas and in Texas during the oil booms of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Eldorado, Smackover, Longview, Ranger, Burkburnette (sp.?), etc. He and my mother told my brother and me about the wild times in those oil boom cities.
Quite a "wild west" time during those days. Again, when the money is flowing the rogues arrive in abundance.
L.W.
In my town, a sleepy little fishing town, a 8000sq lot goes from 40-70k, and that doesn't include dirt work.
Seems to me you have your head in the right place! There is a time to sell, and a time to buy. This is the time to sell. IMHO anyone who buys real estate at those prices is a fool, and will live to regret it. EVERY boom comes to an end, and this one will be no exception. When it does end, it will be ugly. I am astounded by people who tell me this boom will last 20 years! Not a chance, I am already seeing signs the drilling boom is slowing here in the eastern Bakken. Some operators have all their properties about all drilled up, already. Others are expanding their drilling operations, but this will end also. Typical oilfield, nothing new here!
P.S. I've been in the oilfield for nearly 35 years, and survived the last boom of the late 70's and early 80's.
I'm working right in the middle of the EagleFord boom, and watching it happen is just amazing. Seeing 8-10 hotels being built in towns of 3-4000 people just floors me. There are gonna be a [bleep] of worn out hotels sitting in the middle of nowhere when this boom dies off. Hope for works sake it's not for a good while though.
Fairbanks has always been a boom and bust town
though it sort of lined out the last couple of decades.
last real bust was mid 80's and then it boomed again.
course we'll never see it like it was in the 70's again
wild times, two street and the goings on down there, the stuff of legends
Sounds like Williston, North Dakota!
It is like Williston, ND. Cuz, Ranger just lives up the road a wee bit.
I want to sell in the worst way but my little farm is tied up in a zoning moratorium because of the proposed relocation of the Williston airport. I am getting my wife out of here, anyway. What a frigging mess. I told my wife, if ya hate the boom, you will despise the bust. We got here just in time to pay for the last bust.
Headed to Hot Springs SD and hope it does not get there before I die.
In my town, a sleepy little fishing town, a 8000sq lot goes from 40-70k, and that doesn't include dirt work.
All you need is about 100k crazy people to descend on you and show you how to really live. Ya know like "Rockin the Bakken" (gag, wretch). I know you count your blessings, but never quit. ;-{>8
My group of hunters actually toyed with buying a house that we rented a couple years in Ranger's town to use for hunting. I think they wanted $15K. We had 5 guys so it would have been $3K each. What would that sell for now Ranger? I wish we would have done it!
I bet I wouldnt even recognize that town, eh Ranger? how is Cliff doing?
Search up the 40 year history of Casper and Grand Junction on this topic. Focus on the mid-1980's busts. Major profits won.........and lost......
This is the history of the American west. Nothing new here. History will recycle itself......over and over.
Oil/gas, mining, ranching, and timber peaks and valleys are what this life is allll about. It don't come easy here in paradise.......
The sad part is that what you went there for is rapidly disappearing.
But, you would have made a bundle and lot of folks can't see past that.
Last I heard they were asking $80,000 for it. Probably get it too. A little shack smaller than my garage just sold for $60k last fall. Town is a lot different... In most every way you can imagine. Not all of it on the part of the new folks either. Seems like the boom has had a negative effect on a lot of the local people's morals and attitudes as well. Cliff is doing great, still selling signs and killing all of the gophers. Looking like I might be taking a superintendent job outside the oilfield for next year. Hate to do it, because I love it here, but I don't care much for what the place is becoming. Not at all like the place that I found so perfect for raising a son and living the high life a decade and a half ago.
In my town, a sleepy little fishing town, a 8000sq lot goes from 40-70k, and that doesn't include dirt work.
All you need is about 100k crazy people to descend on you and show you how to really live. Ya know like "Rockin the Bakken" (gag, wretch). I know you count your blessings, but never quit. ;-{>8
It took some adjusting getting used to seeing eurotrash walking around town in the summers, after they build the mega fish plant here. After they cut the visas a few years ago for foreign workers, things improved, IMO.
I live in southwest Wyoming. The boom we experienced here from 2000-2008 was epic. Pretty quiet now days. Real estate prices are still pretty high.
It is like Williston, ND. Cuz, Ranger just lives up the road a wee bit.
I want to sell in the worst way but my little farm is tied up in a zoning moratorium because of the proposed relocation of the Williston airport. I am getting my wife out of here, anyway. What a frigging mess. I told my wife, if ya hate the boom, you will despise the bust. We got here just in time to pay for the last bust.
Headed to Hot Springs SD and hope it does not get there before I die.
Good luck OT, hope things work for you.
Nate, we are on the very edge of things but it is still a little crazy here. We bought our house in 2010 and I would bet we could sell it for 2.5x what we paid. We've done a lot of improvements but the market is also way up.
Of course if we were to sell we'd have to build out of town and that's not in the cards right now.
I don't see real estate maintaining a high value here. If the previous boom is any indication, the price will completely bottom out. Once the drilling is over and all of the land men, rig and fracking crews, and other associated oilfield workers leave, who is going to want to live here again? The answer is the same farmers, ranchers, pumpers/roustabout crews, and folks who work in public service and retail sales that lived here before. None of them will pay $190k for a run down 100 year old house, if for no other reason than they can't afford to. Tourism is a non-issue here because you can't see the mountains and there aren't any elk. The dozens of hotels, restaurants, bars, strip clubs, and other businesses that have been built to support a population that is several orders of magnitude larger than it was 5 years ago will likely suffer greatly. Most will disappear I would bet.
Sam - I've heard that things are getting crazy in your neck of the woods too. If I were you and had a piece of land outside of town to build on and tons of equity in a house, you'd see nothing but a vapor trail from me leaving. I have a good friend in a similar position. He bought in Williston before the boom and is farming up here with his dad now. He can sell his house there and build a new one here and be laughing... Just has to get his wife talked into moving. Crazy times for sure. Wish I would have known things would get to this point, I could have bought half a dozen old houses in town for less than $50k and been rolling in cash right now!
Nate, not sure my dad wants us squatting out on the north 40...grin
We've really been thinking about it. Wife works at home and reliable/fast internet is a must so that is our main concern with living out in the country.
That and I really don't like the idea of her being isolated all the time(alone..). I'd have one helluva security system and couple big dogs for sure.
Not really sure why WP has seen such a rise in the housing market. Not much activity to speak of.
Limited supply of (decent)homes and low prices to begin with I guess. Very thankful we moved back when we did.
If you don't mind me asking, where are you thinking of relocating?
Interesting stuff Ranger.
Hearing about the boom in these parts, I wondered how it changes the lives of the regular people not dependent on the oil money. I can imagine it really would suck to see a nice area to live and raise a family turn into a money induced mess.
yeah need to watch that....may have changed now but in 2006 before we moved to town(we bought at the right time aswell) we could not get DSL at Hwy 2 and Windy Hill Road, which is what? 3 miles outside city limits give or take....
I live in southwest Wyoming. The boom we experienced here from 2000-2008 was epic. Pretty quiet now days. Real estate prices are still pretty high.
You in Rock Springs?
The boom here is slowing down for sure, but property is still outrageous...
Not slowing down here...just gaining momentum
Interesting stuff Ranger.
Hearing about the boom in these parts, I wondered how it changes the lives of the regular people not dependent on the oil money. I can imagine it really would suck to see a nice area to live and raise a family turn into a money induced mess.
Lonny - It does suck. Seems crazy that some of the same people who lived through the last boom are convinced that this one will last forever. I can't say that it hasn't been good to me when it comes to my roofing and siding work in the summers, I'm just not sure that I'm willing to ride it out. Cops had to shoot a guy in one of the local bars two years ago, there was an attempted child abduction down the road last week, the list goes on. You go into the bar for a beer now and some nights I don't know a single person in there. This in a town with less than 200 people in it!
The development of pasture/farm lands has changed the face of the countryside too. Trails are now roads, pipeline work all over the place, man camps, etc., once isolated places are now busier than Main Street used to be. Lots of poaching going on along with trespassers everywhere. Less landowners willing to allow access because they are justifiably pizzed at the trespassers and poachers. Add to this the price of property is so far beyond the long term average that you'd be a fool to buy anything, and I'm thinking the time to go is near.
I live in a formerly very sleepy little community in what has now become the famous "Bakken Oilfield". Being a history buff, I've read a great deal about the booms of old, from the copper mines of MT to the various gold and silver mining towns. All of them became crazy places to live. There are stories of simple grocery items being nearly worth their weight in gold and property being almost impossible to purchase in all of these places. Of course there are the tales of lawlessness that came to exist in many of these areas as well.
Knowing all of this, I would still have never guessed that a modern boom would bring about so many of the exact same situations. Shootings, robberies, rapes, and the like are now not something we just read about happening in other places. The price of everything has gone up, not because the store is paying more, but because they're able to charge more. And property!! I've been looking at a lot in a nearby town were I've been considering taking a job. A couple of years ago, lots in this town were being given away. A beautiful lot that was in great shape might bring $500. Well this lot that I had in mind was just under an acre and would have needed a good bit of dirt work to make it suitable. Finally got a price on it yesterday... $35,000!!!!! Pasture land still goes for under $200 an acre, but an acre of poor ground on the edge of a tiny town is now $35,000!! I hope they can get it, but no way in he11 would that be a wise investment. In ten years it will likely be worth $500 again. Interesting to watch the boom take place, it seems humankind is on a never ending loop. When the inevitable bust occurs, I have to wonder how many will be left holding the cards.
It all depends on how long the drilling activity will continue. Last month I saw an estimate that they will be drilling in the Bakken for roughly another 50 years or so.
They probably will be drilling for a long time. What is glossed over is that it won't be consistent. They come to an area and drill a few holes, if they don't turn out that great, they pick up and leave for another area. In some areas, they drill enough to maintain their leases and then leave it to check out something else. Price of oil goes down considerably and drilling pretty much stops entirely. Eventually, they won't be hitting the big time holes anymore so drilling will slow to a fraction of what they are currently doing. Couple this with the unfavorable conditions the MT state gov't has created for drilling, as compared to ND, and the boom is never likely to really get wheels under it on this side of the line. Of course that doesn't mean that we won't see the related problems as people filter out from the epicenter of the drilling and ruin the surrounding communities. All of this means nothing if gov't regulation changes the process in some way that impedes drilling. The EPA messes with fracking and the game will be over in a hurry.
Here's another on the same subject, being from MSN, it makes the ATF sound like they are really doing something around here.
Another Bakken crime/drug article